Philographist enters Limca Book of Records again

When he's not teaching, 62-year-old Thane resident Satish Chaphekar is busy making world records by collecting autographs of achievers and celebrities. His hobby of philography, which began at the age of 11, has helped him enter the Limca Book of Records thrice and his collection now stands at 9,500 signatures of personalities such as cricketers, politicians and scientists.

His latest achievement, now recorded with the Limca Book of Records, is securing 100 autographs of Sachin Tendulkar for making 100 centuries. "When I learnt that an Australian has made a similar record by collecting 100 signatures of cricket legend Don Bradman, it prompted me to do a similar record with our own god of cricket," said Chaphekar. In 2016, Chaphekar registered his second record for having 48 autographs of batsman Rahul Dravid for hitting 48 centuries in 48 one-day matches. His first record is a living example in the form of his house in Dombivli which has signatures of 150 celebrities which include historian Babasaheb Purandare, scientist Dr RA Mashelkar, renowned lyricist and poet Nida Fazli, Govindacharya and Vasudev Kamat, among others.

"When I bought the house in 2002, one of my artist friends and I decided to do something different. He sketched all the autographs on the walls in 35 hours," said Chaphekar. "Later, whenever a celebrity visited Dombivli we would invite them to sign on the walls," he added. This is his first record in the Limca Book for being the first house or wall with celeb autographs.